Died August 2nd 1942
Alice was born in Withenhoe, Essex in 1898. Her father, Enos was a ‘Mariner’ and the family lived at Station Road, with her grandfather – Jack, a retired nightwatchman at the shipyard.
Alice married Walter Ralph Norman Cast in Lexden, Essex on Boxing Day, 1922. Although Walter grew up in Bridport, his father, Fred, was a native of Essex and had family connections with the county. Alice and Walter probably met when the ‘Casts’ were visiting relations there.
In 1911, Fred Cast’s family lived at 71 East Street, and he was a self-employed painter and decorator. Walter had three siblings – an older brother, Albert who worked for his father as a painter, and two sisters, Mizpah and Dora. Walter did not work in the family business. He joined the Royal Navy as a ‘Boy’ 2nd Class in 1915 and served throughout the Great War.
Walter and Alice were married while he was still a serving seaman and their son Dennis was born in Lexden, Essex in 1925. It would appear that Alice remained near her family while Walter was at sea but after he completed his term of duty in 1928 the family moved to Bridport and Walter joined the family building trade.
The 1939 Register recorded Walter as a ‘Master Builder and Contractor’ while Alice was employed as a housewife at Wyvern, 1 Asker Gardens. Dennis’s record is closed at this point.
On August 2nd, 1942, Alice left Asker Gardens and made the short journey into town to post a letter to her son who was ‘in the Army.’ She was in the town centre when the bombs fell in West Street.
Alice was seriously injured in the attack and was taken to Bridport Hospital, where she died from her injuries the same day. Some reports say that Alice sustained her injuries as she pushed a child out of the way of the flying debris caused by the bomb which fell behind the Star Hotel – the blast causing immense damage to buildings all along West Street and South Street. The Post Office, on the opposite side of West Street to the hotel, took the full force of the blast.
The letter to Dennis may have been sent to him ‘in the Army’, but in fact he was too young to be ‘called up’ and if he was in the Army, he was underage on enlistment. There are records of him returning to Asker Gardens in 1947, having traveled from Australia on HM Asturias.
Dennis returned to Sydney in 1949 with his wife Joan and their two young children Sandra and Kevin.
Maybe the fatal letter had been destined for Australia…
Alice is buried in Bridport Cemetery.